MOVES to replace Birmingham's black plastic bag refuse collection with wheelie bins have been rubbished by a senior city council official.

MOVES to replace Birmingham's black plastic bag refuse collection with wheelie bins have been rubbished by a senior city council official.

Environmental services director Ian Coghill believes the large containers would encourage households to throw out more waste and would be "misused" by people disposing of soil, bricks, tiles and building materials.

The cost of altering dust carts to cope with the bins would make the system expensive - at a cost of £86 per tonne collected compared to £75 for plastic bags.

There would also be serious implications on the council's recycling performance, with more than 8,000 tonnes of composting material a year being thrown into wheelie bins.

Mr Coghill's comments feature in a written report to the transportation and street services scrutiny committee, which was meeting today to examine Birmingham's record on recycling and waste collection.

Coun Martin Mullaney ((Lib Dem, Moseley & Kings Heath), the committee chairman, said he was not happy with the analysis.

"If wheelie bins are so awful, then why do so many towns and cities already have them while others are planning to introduce them?

"Is Birmingham incredibly unique, or do we just have something against wheelie bins?."

Supporters of wheelie bins point to environmental benefits, with hygiene advantages over plastic bags which are prone to attract rats and infestation.

Getting rid of the labour-intensive plastic bag system would also produce employment savings.

But Birmingham fears the cost of introducing a city-wide system, covering 400,000 properties, would top £2 million.

Coun Len Gregory, cabinet member for transportation, promised to listen to the views of local communities, where a majority of people wanted wheelie bins. But he warned of serious cost implications. ..SUPL: